Equities
European stocks and U.S. futures fell, and oil prices rose, after Iran’s Supreme Leader was reported saying the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, a hard stance against one of the main U.S. demands.
Dow futures fell 0.13 per cent, S&P 500 futures dropped 0.22 per cent, and Nasdaq futures shed 0.36 per cent, as of 7:21 a.m. ET. TSX futures were down 0.2 per cent.
In Canada, investors are getting results from CAE Inc., Lightspeed Commerce Inc. and Silvercorp Metals Inc.
On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Deere & Co., Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Walmart Inc. and Zoom Video Communications Inc.
“Conviction is lower this time,” said Francesco Pesole, currency strategist at ING, of diplomatic efforts to keep U.S.-Iran peace talks on track. “Rhetoric from both sides remains belligerent, and markets are more hesitant to chase optimistic headlines after earlier disappointments.”
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.30 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.38 per cent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.58 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.51 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 3.14-per-cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished 1.03-per-cent lower.
Commodities
Oil prices rose after a Reuters report signalled that Iran was hardening Tehran’s stance on one of the main U.S. demands at peace talks.
Brent crude futures gained 1.3 per cent to US$106.41 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose US$1.56 or 1.6 per cent to US$99.82. Both were trading lower before the report.
In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.6 per cent at US$4,517.94 per ounce. U.S. gold futures for June delivery lost 0.4 per cent at US$4,518.70.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 72.57 US cents to 73.01 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.49 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, was little changed at 99.08. The dollar was pegged at $1.3768.
The euro declined 0.28 per cent to US$1.1594. The British pound shed 0.16 per cent to US$1.3411.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last up at 4.616 per cent.
Economic news
Japan’s trade deficit, core machine orders and PMI
Euro zone PMI, consumer confidence and labour costs
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. initial jobless claims for week of May 16. Estimate is 210,000, up 1,000 from the previous week.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. housing starts for April. The Street expects an annualized rate decline of 6.5 per cent.
8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. building permits for April. Consensus is an annualized rate rise of 0.9 per cent.
9:45 a.m. ET: U.S. S&P Global PMIs for May.
10 a.m. ET: U.S. quarterly services for Q1.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press